Paralyzing anxiety

I have been following a high carb low fat raw vegan life style for over three years. For more than a year, I have suffered from paralyzing anxiety. I wonder if there is anything diet-related that is causing these problems. Any ideas? Does anyone else suffer from paralyzing anxiety?

My guess is that my problems have got to do something with eating too little fats or not eating not enough variety of fat sources (until recently I didn't eat nuts or seeds). I don't think my anxiety has a psychological cause. Before my anxiety problem started I have never felt this type of anxiety and nothing in my personal circumstances has changed since the start of these problems.

Below I will first describe my problem and after that I will describe some life-style habits, just to give some more detailed information.

1. When I suffer from paralyzing anxiety, I feel a pressure at my sternum. Ever task, even the simplest, feels very heavy to me. I feel like I need to do something to make me feel good. If I feel this way, I usually listen to music, look at beautiful pictures, talk to friends or reminisce about the past.However nothing can make me feel good. It is an ongoing feeling of anxiety.While suffering from these symptoms, I am completely unable to work at my studies (I go to college) or anything else. This causes a whole lot of other problems.

The intensity of these symptoms increases near the end of the day. Usually I feel normal in the morning, the problem starts in the afternoon and I feel so bad in the evening that I can't even get to bed. This is because I have this strong urgency that I really need to make me feel better before I go to bed!

By the way, my heart beat is normal (not very fast), when I have the symptoms described above.

2. My diet habits: In the morning I have a mono meal of a certain type of fruit. In the afternoon and evening I have a meal of one type of sweet fruit, combined with leafy greens and sometimes non-sweet fruits or fatty fruits. I only mix fats with acid type of fruits. I don't do smoothies. I eat a small portion of a fatty fruit two or three times a week. Until recently I didn't eat nuts or seeds. Occasionally (about once every two weeks) I eat some cooked foods.

Exercise: I cycle every day for at least half an hour. I do strength exercises once a week (1 hour) and I do a pole fitness class (1 hour) also once a week. In the past I spent a lot of time on sports.

Replies to This Discussion

i can relate. In order to rule out sugar swings you can try snacking between meals. I realized sometimes my anxiety was triggered by a sugar swing and I just needed to eat more.

Running really helps me with my anxiety after I run each day I'm much more calm.

If you dont think its phsycological in nature at all I"m not sure what to tell you. I know I get anxiety for no apparent reason at times as well and its maddening. But I have read some good books that helped. Power of Now by eckhart toll. and awareness by anthony de mello. theres others too that re good.

You didnt say you drink. But over 5 years ago I did and my anxiety and panic was far worse at that time. So for me that was also a trigger.

I dont think there is a cure with diet for anxiety. more fats less fats blah I've tried it all. Magnesium supplements can help but then they can backfire if you end up too relaxed and dont feel like doing squat etc..

Bananas for some reason always have me feeling better then almost any other food in my rotation. You could also try a hemp protein or something in a smoothie Probably woudnt blow your protein intake and you'd get some good fats and some protein that might help level out the blood sugar some also theres some good proteins in there that help with things liek anxiety and so on.

I havent found a "cure" myself but thats what i do to help keep things at bay.

I did take magnesium supplements for a long time and I stopped recently. I think the supplementation could actually have caused my anxiety (by taking it too long without other supplements). Maybe I got deficient in calcium or so.

try the hemp protein maybe not the seeds the protein is lower fat. or the seeds if you want to try the extra fat.

yeah wish there was a magical cure.

before i ran i'd walk. and yeah multiple times a day out the door i went for another walk to calm myself down lol. its luckily not as bad now as it once was.

I know doctors love to dole out meds but i always thought geeze then i'll have to figure out how to get off of those!

I hope the protein helps. I know for me sometimes i can go weeks and weeks skipping out on hemp protein. then other times i'm panic stricten practically with anxiety so i put it in and it helps me. I think it has to do with blood sugar regulation mostly. Or its all placebo and i'm imaging it cause like i said i do go weeks without it just fine too.

My thinking with hemp protein is the added protein helps regulate the blood sugar a little. In my case I think at times my blood sugar flakes out and simply shovleing in more carbs doesnt always cut the mustard. The other thing is the hemp protein has some proteins that go a long way fighting depression tryptophan being one. ANd while we may not think we are depressed it is possible that if we get a higher level of serotonin we may feel better and be less anxious about whatever. Theres others too but I cannot remember there specificis off the top of my head.

I would imagine theres raw ways to solve this puzzle as well for folks like us which is probably why somtimes i got months just fine with no hemp protein.

I think I find myself getting out of wack if i'm shoveling in say just too much bananas and rice and not much else say.

The other thing too with the hemp protein is its pretty high iron so you can rule out low iron as being a possible culprit as well.

eating more seeds like say pumpkin seeds might not be a bad option. Myself however i can get carried away with seeds some nuts are good choices too not so much the omega 3 fats but the tryptophan. I hate nuts so its just not an option for me.

Oooh, so sorry you are having digestive issues! Do you think you have irritable bowel syndrome or just sensitive digestion? I think it is very difficult to get ripe fruit in northern Europe, that alone could cause digestive issues, (eating under ripe fruit).

I think my digestion is just sensitive, I don't think I am suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. Yes it is difficult to get ripe fruit in northern Europe, but not impossible. I will try to be more alert on the ripeness of the fruit I am eating. Thank a lot for your help ednshell!